Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Great Britain: Ribble Valley rider Jane is at home in the saddle

IMAGINE riding a horse from England to America and back, a distance of 6,000 miles.That is the incredible distance Wiswell rider Jane Wood and her remarkable horse Kym have just achieved in long-distance riding.

Jane, who lives at Wiswell Hall Livery Yard with her husband John and daughter Joannne, has received the 6,000 mile accolade from Endurance GB, the competitive long-distance horse riding society for England and Wales.

Kym probably holds the record mileage for any currently competing horse in Lancashire.

Jane has owned her sprightly 24-year-old brown and white coloured mare Kym since she was just a five-year-old. The pair have completed the endurance miles from as far north as Northumberland and Cumbria to East Anglia and the Cotswolds in the South.

Ride mileage is logged by the society and accumulates over the season. This is then taken forward to add on each year. Kym has won numerous trophies and rosettes in her long career, and has also raised over £500 for Macmillan Nurses by taking part in annual sponsored rides at Newmarket racecourse.

Jane thinks the world of her and she is very much a part of the Wood family.Kym celebrated her 21st birthday with fellow liveries at the yard.

"Endurance riding is a wonderful way of building a trusting affinity with your horse," said Jane.

"I particularly enjoy this form of equine sport as you build up such a close friendship with your horse, experiencing fantastic countryside and scenery all over England."

Horses are very much a major part of Jane's life. When she is not endurance riding, she is kept busy with the small and friendly livery yard she runs with her family. Of course, the 6,000 miles Kym has completed are only the recorded distance – she is kept very fit at home riding along the beautiful roads and lanes in the picturesque Ribble Valley.

If they too were measured, she could possibly have ridden as far as New Zealand! [...more]